Glyphs and Gears

After the battle, the Charles Nortier and Theodor Flickt Ritzen began to approach Jasper, only to see him fall to one knee and grasp at his stomach. After hurrying to him, they saw the would from the goblin boss was now bleeding a thick, black blood; clearly a horrible poison. Knowing he had not long to live, Jasper inquired about the findings inside the mountain. When the heroes told of their findings, of the etching and the mysterious door, Jasper went even paler. He recalled an ancient tale from the area, where “A great evil once came upon the land and enslaved or killed anyone or anything that got in his path. This evil warlord would sometimes leave for days or weeks at a time, leaving his most fanatical follower to keep a tight grip over the people, with the help of the beasts the evil brought from his world. One day, while the tyrant was gone, three of the villages most respected men rose up against the man evil steward, and chased him back into the mountain. Only two came back out, and they were not quick to speak of the horrors they saw. However, it was learned that there was a secret passage into the depths of the mountain, and that deep inside there was a room with a portal to another world fully of metal and cranks and terrible beasts with no words to describe. One of the surviving heroes was a scribe of incredible natural talent, and he used his powers to seal the portal shut for eternity. Or that was the plan, but it is clearly not so. The last of the ancient scribes lineage died in their home when the beasts attacked again, and the other hero’s ends with me and my son, one of the fallen warriors from the goblin raid. It is a bad omen that these beasts return and the last line of our villages hero’s die.” With that, Jasper gave Charles Nortiera dagger, the one embedded in the head of one of the beasts when they showed up to investigate, telling them that it has been in the family of the ancient scribe for eons. He told them it was no longer safe here in Canton, with the portal clearly no longer sealed and the goblin activity on the rise, and asked them to take his people with them, at least as far back as Bawthik, where hopefully their tribal brethren would help to make a new town for the fishers. After doing so and arriving back in Bawthik, the village elder was, surprised would be putting it mild, to see them return with the crowd. After learning it was Jasper who requested the help of the Bawthik people, he agreed to assist construct a new village on the river, under one condition. It would be impossible to do this now, because there was a family of ogres that lived on the river, and he had already lost more them one champion attempting to eradicate them. If the travelers could go and slay the ogres and their pig pets, and bring back the tusks of Soullick, the largest of these pigs to prove the task was done, then they would help.

Our hero’s reach Canton, a fishing village at the foot on Kazr Mountain, nationally know for its abundance of the rare rockfish. At Canton, Jasper, a strong man in both arm and heart, briefs Theodor and Charles on the events they were assigned to investigate. Apparently as some of the last men were hauling in their nets by the mountain stream one night, they were set upon by a pack of terrifying beasts! These dog like beasts attacked the men, and the few town soldiers came to the defense only to see their swords dent and bounce off of their metallic skin. The soldiers were forced to fall back after multiple were slain, and the ‘dogs’ pushed forward into two of the closest houses, slaughtering the inhabitants. When the townsfolk realized they had no hope, a booming unintelligible voice seemed to call them back from the mountain. After relaying this information, Theodor and Charles began their investigation of the town, they searched the attack site to see strange claw marks in the ground, and the guards presented them with one of the dead beasts. It seemed to be something like a mechanical dog, with a dagger plunged into its head. After Theodor tinkered with a few gears he could see from the neck of the beast, they investigated the small waterfall at the edge of the mountain bordering the village. Charles decided to search through the waterfall, and discovered a secret passage leading into the mountain. After retrieving Theodor, they ventured down the passage, eventually seeing strange markings on the walls. After travelling even farther, they came upon a room, lit by many strange looking ticking lanterns, and many strange tribal art on the wall. They depicted many scenes involving odd looking dogs attacking people, and the pictures culminated into one large picture of many humans seeming to bow to an enormous man with strange joints. In the middle of the room there was also an odd pillar, only about 4 feet high, with a small circle coming vertically out of the top like a ring, and on the wall behind this hole there is an engraved outline of a door with XII marked in the middle, surrounded by what look to Theodor like glyphs, but non he has ever seen, and they were all dull and gave him a broken feeling. When the two were leaving the tunnel back into the village, as they approached the waterfall, they heard the sound of a battle horn blow from outside. They hurried to the exit to see the town being attacked by a band of goblins! Charles jumped down to the level of the fight and charged into combat to assist the teenage soldiers and the few veterans left, while Theodor stood on the small plateau making use of his crossbow. During this fight, it they saw Jasper battling a goblin warboss on the other side of the river in town. With the help of our hero’s, they goblins were repelled, and as the wounded Jasper struck a killing blow to the warboss, the adventurers were finally at ease.

After landing unexpectedly short of the destination, in Bawthick, our heros travel into the tribal town to see if they can’t gain any information on continuing to Canton. The few locals they met weren’t exactly helpful, sometimes violently so. After Theodor caught the eye of an attractive female in the town, and seeing another local warrior venture into the wilderness to slay some unknown beast, he and Charles left via the eastern trail towards Canton. Upon reaching the gate, a novice, staggering youth stopped them, and after learning they were sent to investigate the slaughter he’s so on edge about, called over a superior to further brief the party.

The start of it all...

You are currently on your way to the small fishing village of Canton, where the most recent of the reports on attacks occurred. You are in transit aboard a small flying machine that resembles a large dome attached to a small woven basket where the passengers are situated. At first, you assume the craft must be kept afloat by a rapidly spinning propeller, spinning above your heads, but upon closer inspection, you see that the blades and the underside of the dome are covered in slightly glowing golden runes. Perhaps that has something to do with it…